The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: D-Fest Edition

Brett & Kate McKay

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The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: D-Fest Edition

Last night my wife and I attended D-fest in downtown Tulsa. D-fest is a weekend rock music festival that brings in dozens of bands from across the country and the state. It’s sort of like the Tulsa version of South by Southwest, scaled down, of course. We got to see some great bands perform last night. Phantom Planet and The Apples In Stereo, two long time favorites of mine, performed. They were great. However, the headline act last night was Oklahoma’s own The All-American Rejects. They put on one hell of a show.

Back to Basics: Your Calendar (@ lifehack) One of my personal goals right now is to get my life back into order. I’m pretty organized, but if I want to accomplish all my goals I have with school and the blog, I’m going to have to do better. The calendar is the foundation of personal organization. This post gives the pros and cons of different types of calendars.

Warren Buffet’s 7 Secrets to Living a Happy and Simple Life (@ success soul) Warren Buffet is quickly becoming a role model to me. I’ve always admired the man, but after reading this post, I want to learn more about him. My favorite “secret” from this post is how Buffet enjoys simple pleasures, like playing bridge. That’s probably one of the reasons he became so wealthy. He didn’t and still doesn’t spend his money on crap. A man who can maintain his thriftiness despite being almost richer than God deserves your respect. Anybody know of any good biographies about Buffet?

Reclaim Your Time: 20 Great Ways to Find More Free Time (@ zen habits) My buddy Leo at Zen Habits has written a great post on finding more free time in your life. Like I said, I’m trying to find more time in my day to work on my goals. This post will definitely come in handy in finding that time.

Let’s Hear It For the Losers (@ schaefer’s blog) Art of Manliness contributor, Cameron Schaefer, wrote this fantastic piece at his blog. America loves winners. We like to read about them and find out the secrets of their success. However, there’s lots to be learned from people who failed. Namely, we can learn what NOT to do or why something didn’t work. In your pursuit in learning about success, remember to not neglect studying failures.

Art of Manliness’ Take on a Simple Marriage (@Simple Marriage) Corey is beginning a series in which he gives readers a behind the scenes look at the people who run blogs. This week he interviewed Kate and I about what makes our marriage tick. If you’ve ever been curious about us, check out his site.

In the Forums

If you’re looking to get more involved in the AoM community, take part in the forums. Find advice on being a better man, pose a question, or just talk about your latest man adventure. Here are few interesting threads going on over there:

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Is It Manly? Review

I thought it would be cool to do a wrap up of the previous week’s Is It Manly? polls. Last week’s question was “Are video games manly?” 2217 of you voted and the results were really close. 51% (or 1138 votes) of you said that video games are NOT manly. 49% (or 1079 votes) of you said that, YES, they were. The discussion was stupendous. Here are some of the highlights:

Jessica said:

Cory (from a Good Husband) makes a important point above that I hope does not get lost in the mix. Video games are neither manly nor unmanly in and of themselves, but they become very unmanly when played to excess. When my husband comes home from work he almost immediately plops down on the couch, puts his headset on, and starts to play. He stays up into the wee hours of the morning and won’t come to bed, even when I beg him to. It has put such a strain on our marriage. It’s hard to face the fact that my husband enjoys spending time with his virtual friends more than me. I feel like a video game widow. Thanks for that new term Cory.

Dan said:

I would say some games are “manly.” I find some video games are a good, peaceful way to vent some aggression that might otherwise be channeled in less appropriate ways or bottled up. Blow up a few things or shoot some monsters and one feels a bit better.

Dave K said:

Video games are what you make of them, and it certainly depends on which games you’re looking at. They can teach you to win or loose gracefully. They can teach leadership and teamwork. Yet sadly there are a great number of parents who use video games as a babysitter, and people who gain entertainment solely from griefing others.

Some games have excellent stories, some have incredible music scores. Some do not. Some feature amazing amounts of gore.

So, is leadership manly? Is teamwork? Is it considered manly to read classical works of fiction, or listen to orchestra?

I’ve played games where I mindlessly whack monsters (Diablo 2), and I’ve also lead 50 people who’ve never met, who hail from across the US and Europe, in an endeavor that requires the utmost co-ordination between everyone involved (EverQuest).

The answer? Laying waste to the hordes of hell: not manly, but certainly fun. Coordinating the efforts of a large number of people to slay the dragon: Fun, and it also required quite a few manly traits to pull off (no offense to any female raid-leaders who may be reading :-).